Malay midwives and witches.

Among traditional Malay midwives (bidan kampung) in northwestern Peninsular Malaysia, professional rivalry and dissonance surface through oblique attacks of witchcraft accusations. A midwife is also an exorcist with skills similar to the Malay bomoh, but her knowledge of witchcraft is limited to diagnostic and curative rituals for spirit-possession in infants, children, young unmarried women, and pregnant mothers. Codes of professionalism depend not only on skill and experience but also on religiousness, benevolence, virtue, diligence, and fair-play. Witches are conceived as anti-Islamic, uncompromising, malevolent, and destructive. Government midwives who threaten traditional midwives' popularity are also labeled as witches. Midwifery and witchcraft, though structurally opposed in ideology and morality, exist within the same sphere of ritual and symbolic communication.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyse professional rivalry and dissonance amongst traditional Malay midwives (bidan kampung) in the Northwest areas of Peninsular Malaysia. It elucidates how techniques of symbolic and ritual communication are carefully monitored by these female specialists, to develop regular clientele and professional credibility over time. However, since an integral element of Malay midwifery is protection from and mastery over mystical forces in nature and evil spirits harboured by witches, a midwife is also an exorcist with skills rather similar to the Malay bomoh (traditional medical practitioner, usually male) except that her range of knowledge of witchcraft is limited to diagnostic and curative rituals of spirit-possession, in infants and children, young unmarried women and pregnant mothers. Within a restricted population area, professional rivalries and competition amongst midwives regularly surface in oblique attacks of witchcraft accusations where the accused strives to maintain her credibility while her accuser gradually wins over her clientele. Significantly, codes of professionalism in traditional Malay midwifery are not only determined by skill and experience, but also religiousness (faith in Islam), benevolence, virtue, diligence and a sense of equality and fair-play in the practice of the trade. These qualities are seemingly lacking in witches who are conceived to be anti-Islamic, uncompromising, manevolent and destructive. Thus, government midwives who threaten the popularity of traditional midwives by being particularly active in their work or supervising and controlling midwives in an authoritarian way, are also labelled as witches. Generally, while midwifery and witchcraft reflect two forms of knowledge that are structurally opposed, in ideology and morality, they exist within the same sphere of ritual and symbolic communication where the practitioners aided by their clients, shift from one state of dissonance to another in an attempt to regulate behaviour.